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Tuesday, 19 July 2016

A problem - please help!

Agrotis sp.?

Bipectinate antenna, so male insect. Brown(ish) hindwing, paler than the forewing, but certainly not white. Wing length about 15mm. Two of these were trapped at Cwmllwyd on 18 July, the second one was very battered, so not photographed. I hesitate to suggest that it looks surprisingly like A.clavis: Heart and Club. Can this be so? It's a long way to the nearest sand dunes and there's a mountain in the way! Do they migrate? Your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

2 comments:

That`s heart and club all right, Steve. I`ve had them, in abundance, not far from you, on the limestone enclosure at Palycwrt, in the days when I did some long-distance traps before you gladly came on the scene (as no one was then covering the Mynydd Du upland). I`d shove the traps out in the evening and collect them on the way to my then job at Gelli Aur.Heart and club is mostly coastal in Carms but it should also occur inland where soils are n`t so acidic, as at Palycwrt. The recent hot nights induce moths to wander more, hence perhaps your capture on your acidic terrain at Cwmllwyd.